Nowadays, with the development of technologies, teachers are using more digital tools, such as web sites, social networks and videos, inside their classes. The use of these tools is often connected to the Collaborative approach. This educational methodology encourages students to help each other, inside and outside the classroom and it has shown itself to be very effective. Although it is not a new method, it started to be discussed in the beggining of the last century, it has been more used during the last years. The aim of this essay is to analyse the advantages of using the C.A in writing classes, such as how the students produce, analyse and correct written work, training heir writing and reading skills. As mentioned before, digital tools are part of the Collaborative Work. As many classes have a short period of duration, working online makes it possible to learn more even when you are at home. Many tools can be used for Collaborative Work, but the one that is being very useful by the teachers nowadays is the Wikispace because it allows the student to share and edit texts online, uploading big files and sending messages to partners, it all in one site. Different from blogs, which does not provide many tools, and are also used to entertainment, it has the focus in the academic process.
It is important to emphasize that in order to have a successful learning, all the students must be part of the project as one. If the student writes just his topic, he won't learn the whole content, neither their colleagues. This problem occurs very often once the students prefer to split the work to make it easier, but they forget about learning and discussing. The teacher must be regularly checking if his students are sharing their own in fomation with themselves. Reading somebody else's work makes it easier to find mistakes in your own text. Reading also helps building student's vocabulary, improving their writing skills and also allowing them to share their knowledge. Those learning experiences are not possible when the teacher is the center of the class. The collaborative method is based on a different idea, it places the student in the center. Collaborative Work is very useful in those rushing time that we are living, everyday more tools are being created and improved. For that reason, teachers must open their minds to a new way of teaching, stopping being the center of the class and giving space for their students to not just learn but teach. Using this methodology the teacher will help his students in their writting and reading skills in an easier and more effective way.
REFERENCE:
SMITH, Barbara L. and MacGREGOR, Jean T. What is Collaborative Learning. 1992.
CAROLINA'S ESSAY Productive Collaborative Work Many students know too well the difficulties of writing a group paper or essay. Those assignments can be a nightmare, because it is almost impossible to schedule meetings among all the peers and make sure each one does his or her share of the work. Working collaboratively is not an easy task and obtaining good results mostly depends on how people use the available tools, interact with the other members of a group and participate in all parts of the project. There are many tools that can facilitate the process of working together and people should learn how to deal with them, in order to use them properly according to their needs. Some media tools such as e-mails, social networks and computer platforms are completely free and the choice depends on what people specifically want from the tool. In other words, students should choose the tool that are more appropriate, depending on the results wanted. The group should consider the availability of every member, in person or online, and try to draw a profile of the group and its needs, so they can look for appropriate ways of working together.
A good interaction among the group members is an essential part of the collaborative work. Each member must feel comfortable enough to talk to the others, in order to collaborate, discuss and share all the information and opinions. Unshared information or thought processes can lead the group to wrong decisions. Many minds are better than one, but only if they work towards a common goal. That happens when there is a mutual effort from all the parts, trying to get along well and setting some goals, rules and deadlines, minimizing the waste of time and enhancing efficiency. Another important aspect of working collaboratively is the participation of the whole group. However, members are not supposed to simply participate, choosing a specific part and contributing somehow. They must participate actively in the whole process, sharing information, discussing ideas, complementing or changing opinions, so that the final project is actual group work and not several individual ones put together. When all the minds are settled on one single goal and start working together, a synergy happens within the group. Such thing does not happen with one person alone. That is why we say that “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts”. Summing up, group work can be a very difficult task, but there are some ways to increase the productivity and efficiency, minimizing the waste of time. If the members of the group have a good interaction with each other, use the tools that are available in an effective way and participate actively in all parts of the project, the results are bound to be good.
REFERENCES:
BARTON, Matt & KLINT, Karl. A Student’s Guide to Collaborative Writing Technologies. In Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 2.
CALVO, Mario; COTTLE, Jacquline; RANDOLPH-SENG, Brandon; & ZACCHILLI, Tammy. Shared Cognitions and Shared Theories: Telling More Than We Can Know by Ourselves?
Larissa's Essay
The Collaborative approach deals with how students work together toward common goals. This environment where knowledge and tasks are shared can be difficult or complicated,since not all members of the group cooperate. However, it is a good opportunity to improve the quality of the project itself if it is done well. This kind of technique can help students in classrooms to improve their ability of dealing with different situations, such as helping each other in a group, solving problems and using tools on the Internet.
Although dealing with different people and opinions is an everyday activity, it might not be so simple. In order to achieve the best result of working collaboratively, all the members should help each other. First, a leader will be chosen with the objetcive of improving the organization of the project. It does not mean that he/she will be responsible for everything, since each member will have a function in the group. The leader’s responsibility is not only checking if people are executing their tasks successfully, but also working together with all the other members. Everyone in the group discusses and distributes tasks based on each person’s abilities. Second, members participate in an active way sharing opinions and information, exchanging knowledge, argumenting and fulfilling the deadlines.
According to Smith and MacGregor (1992), "Collaborative learning activities immerse students in challenging tasks or questions". Through these activities, students deal first with problems, instead of beginning with facts and ideas; then, they move on to the applications. Therefore, students are more involved with the development of the project, solving the problems that may appear and focusing on improvements. Consequently, they have to be better prepared to organize themselves and think of what is going to happen next.
There are tools available on the Internet that can be really useful to help the process of working together and organizing the project, such as Wikipedia, Google Docs, blogs, Facebook, and e-mails. These tools are facilitators in the process, since they can make group work more productive, alleviate problems with group members who are absent (or who do not participate), and cost nothing to use. It is important to mention that everybody in a group has to determine which technologies will be used to make the project collaboration easier.
The approach of working collaboratively is a technique that can help students work in groups, solve problems and use Internet tools. When dealing with different people, opinions and situations, the learners prepare themselves to work cooperatively and respectfully even beyond classroom limits. Through this educational approach, chances are that good results will frequently be met based on what this essay has presented.
REFERENCE:
1) SMITH, Barbara L. and MacGREGOR, Jean T. What is Collaborative Learning. 1992. Valentina's Essay:
Technological tools: a students' ally in collaborative work.
Nowadays, it is evident how techonology is present in many aspects of our everyday life, having defenetelly changed the way people used to work, interact, spend their spear time and, especially, study. As a matter of fact, it is in the academic enviroment that technological tools play a key role, not just for teachers, but also for students. In fact, they have the opportunity of organizing better group work, deciding and assigning member's tasks, with the final result of improving collaborative work. The aim of this essay is to present some of the advantages of the use of technologies at school and college, with a special focus on the helpful role that technological tools have in collaborative work for projects. This advantages, which will be deepen along the text, elucidate how technologies can allow a group to work toghether, without the need of organizing face-to-face meetings; how the portability and the free access of tools can facilitate the group work; and, finally, how the access to information is much easier through the use of technologies. At least once in our academic life, everyone has been asked to develop a project through a group work, probably without any enthusiasm. Indeed, it is well known that working in a group is not easy. Especially in the hurried and busy modern life, the hardest thing is to organize face-to-face meetings, which all the members can attend. But how can a group develop a project without meeting and discussing with all the members? How can the project be set up? It is at this point that technologies come into play. With the help of technological tools, in fact, group members can interact with one another at any time of the day, in any place of the earth. Through e-mails, social networks (such as the famous Facebook or Twitter), or, in the best of the cases, through internet conferences (for instance with Skype), students can manage their work, assign tasks and improve collaborative work. In this way, they have the chance to work on their project in the most suitable place (for exemple at home, instead of at school) and moment (such as during the night, instead of the day). In other words, students can optimize their time and respct deadlines, having a greater opportunity to achieve an optimal result. Got to this point, i.e. had understood how to work in group without organizing face-to-face meetings, we need to know where these useful tools can be found. Here comes the Internet. As we all know, this invisible "web" is the Pandora`s box where we can find literally everything, including all the indispensable tools we need to develop our group project. Most of the tools can be directly used while surfing the internet, or , when this is not possible, can be dowloaded, completely free of charge. Because of this "democratic" aspect, i.e. their accessibility, everyone can benefit from these technologies to work collaboratively. In this way, each phase of the work can be organized (from the on-line meetings untill the final presentation), without wasting a cent. However, has to be kept in mind that, despite the current great diffusion of tecnhologies, not anyone has a computer or an internet connection at home. Fortunately, at the present time, the majority of schools or libraries has computers available for students` use. For those who has a notebook, instead, the access to technologies is even more easy. In fact, a great number of cities already has free wireless hot spots in the main public places (such as squares or parks), and those cities that still does not have any, are planning to fill this gap. So far, we have seen how to work collaboratively through the organization of on-line meetings and the use of free tecnhological tools found on the web. Nevertheless, has to be mentioned another important "democratic" aspect of tecnhologies. Matt Barton and Karl Klint, in their article on the use of technological tools in collaborative work, define this feature as "social nature" of tools. In fact, through these tecnhologies found on the internet, students can share their knowledges, research and projects, both with other students or also experts. In this way, a greater number of sources is available on the web (that can be on sites, on-line jurnals or blogs), in addition to the already existing printed ones. Last but not least, another practical advantage has to be reminded. Through the use if tecnhological tools, in fact, students do not need to literally "walk" in search of a source (as in libraries or shops), but just sit down in front of the computer and digit. Nor they have to "talk" to their sources by intrviewing them, but again, sit down in front of a computer and send them an e-mail. As in all the other phases that bring to the final version of the project, therefore, students can optimize their time, also when it comes to research for sources. In conclusion, it results evident how technological tools are an important and fundamental ally in student's group work. Because of their help, in fact, students can take full advantage of their abilities, both individually and collaboratively, having at their disposal a greater number of sources of information, organization and presentation for their project. Improving their work and developing it in a short amount of time, students will be able to reach an excellent final result, being aware of the fact that technological tools can be a useful support not just in academic enviroments, but also in many other aspects of everyday life.
REFERENCES: BARTON M., KLINT K.., "A Student’s Guide to Collaborative Writing Technologies", in "Writing Spaces. Readings on writing" Vol 2, p. 320, 2011. ATKINS A.T., "Collaborating Online: Digital Strategies for Group Work", in "Writing spaces. Readings on writing" Vol. 1, p. 235, 2010. Bárbara's Essay
Nowadays, wok in group in schools is a very difficult task, but collaborative work is a more effective way of teaching than the traditional methods, because the students are more motivated.
In collaborative working the educational hierarchy will vary, the central idea is that the professor will just direct the students, giving them the possibility of being challenge, which means, putting them in a situation that students will not just be the observers, as a result the students will become practitioners having more possibilities of resolving the problems.
When a group has the same thought the work becomes easier, of course this does not happens all the time, however this will improve abilities to deal with different points of views. Although the most difficult task is accept the others opinion, this issue can be solved with a discussion, putting the ideas together and finding a similarity between them. With this method the students develop mutual trust.
This work does not have to be just in the classroom, with some tools, for instance the internet, collaborative work can be easier including the use of blogs, chats, facebook, e-mails, all them can be used as an instrument by the professor, and the student be more interesting in a class that you don’t need to be there for learn, is something new and is this kind of activity that call attention.
In summary, collaborative work is a new way to make the students to listen different ideas, to create something new, to develop their intellectual and enhance professional development. And we must believe that collaborative working will be a changing in the traditional methods of teaching.
Isabella's Essay
Shared Cognitions within Collaborative Work
The essay's goal is to undestand in which ways shared cognitions might take part and perhaps influence the development of collaborative work and how technology plays an important part when it comes to both processes.
FALE/UFMG
March/2012
Shared Cognitions within Collaborative Work
For some time the use of technology has been one of the main topics of discussion within the academic environment. Adapting teaching and learning skills to the new technological means has been a challenge to both teachers and students. The proposal of this essay is exactly to discuss how the academic sphere can use the new technologies as tools in order to develop not only colaborative work, but also shared cognitions. The shared cognitions play an important role when it comes to the process of collaborative work. Those cognitions might be, in fact, a guide when it comes to working in groups, specially when using tools instead of face to face meetings.
The idea of shared cognitions comes from the cognitive process elaborated within a set of people. Shared cognition refers to conscious cognitive functioning shared by a group, but it is in fact strongly dependent on individual cognitions. According to the authors of Shared Cognitions and Shared Theories, sharing information during deliberation processes may have implications when it comes to decision making and the majority taking part in the process, which means that individual thoughts and opinions can influence the general opinion when it comes to deciding something. In that sense, each person's background will be, if not taken into account, at least be present during the deliberation.
Although deliberation can be an individual process, in our democratic society what so ever is developed in groups, decision making often regards a group of individuals. This process, that once took part only in the political sphere, is now part of our daily lives. From the early start, children are encouraged to share their thoughts among their classmates in order to learn not only to respect the differences, but also to improve their cognitive skills. Being able to work in groups and sharing thoughts helps youngsters to interact better in society.
Seeing that working in groups can be helpfull within the decision making process, learning skills and social interaction, schools have for some time encouraged collaborative work among their students, as sharing their thoughts make them work better. However in order to improve and make collaborative work easier, some adaptation was required in the academic spheres, that is collaborative work now goes beyond making groups in classrooms it also continues at students homes. That is only possible through all the technology developed in the last few years. Tools such as wikispaces, facebook, googledocs, forums, peer teaching, online chats, create an environment where students can interact and see each others work.
In that sence, Students use technology as a tool or a support for communicating with others, they are in an active role rather than the passive role of recipient of information transmitted by a teacher, textbook, or broadcast. Therefore the student is actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Technology use allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons. Moreover, when technology is used as a tool to support students in performing authentic tasks, the students are in the position of defining their goals and evaluating their progress.
If the students position changes when using technology, the teacher does not stay behind, the teacher's role changes as well. The teacher is no longer the center of attention as the dispenser of information, but rather plays the role of facilitator, setting project goals and providing guidelines and resources, moving from student to student or group to group, providing suggestions and support for student activity.
The internet and online spaces are used not only as an information tool, but as a meeting area for studies and for peer learning. They are no longer seen as a distraction or disturbance in the learning process, but as a possibility for students to exchange knowledge, students are roused to learn to revise each others work, to learn from others mistakes and to accept critiques towards their work and to discuss topics and add what was shared to their life encyclopedia.
Everything presented so far shows that shared cognitions are always present in collaborative work and learning skills and that technology can be used in favor of the learning process.These new technological tools are making the process of learning continuous to students. In this way collaborative learning both facilitates and enriches the evaluation (done by teachers) and the learning processes (of the students). Marcela's essay:
Collaborative Learning: Education beyond the Classrooms
Living in a world where globalization is no longer a new word, but a routine, it is vital to relate, communicate and work with different people at any time, anywhere. This necessity has changed the objective of educational institutions, which aim at filling society and market with professionals capable of handling different situations. Since these new professionals must work cooperatively, collaborative learning becomes essential, for it provides students with activeness, cooperation and participation, skills hardly acquired through traditional approaches. Collaborative learning is active and it considers the acquisition of knowledge a shared process. This way, students are to "work together to maximize their own and each other's learning" (SMITH & MacGREGOR, 1992, p. 3), for "The development of interpersonal skills is as important as the learning itself" (SMITH & MacGREGOR, 1992, p. 3). Therefore, instead of sticking to the traditional method of listening to lectures and taking notes, learners practice, research, and build contents themselves while becoming a straight-forward professional and citizen. Besides being used to cooperation and teamwork, according to Barton and Klint (2011), collaborative students acquire the much desirable sense of social and intellectual involvement, civic responsibility and management of technologies. This last one comes from the large array of tools available for online, shared and asynchronous work, of which Barron and Klint (2011) present valuable examples and explanations, such as: Google Docs, Facebook, Google Reader, Zotero, and others are useful in all the steps of the writing process, for instance. Nevertheless, the use of technological environments is a problem for many. This is because the challenges and difficulties of the collaborative approach are related to the stiffness of the old-fashioned educational system, which no longer meets the necessities of today's world. Still, some institutions and educators confront the cooperative methodology because they do not believe it to be actual teaching process. However, although there are other problems such as "the tension between the process of student learning and content coverage" (SMITH & MacGREGOR, 1992, p. 8), the outcome of a collaborative approach seems to be "a community of learners in which everybody is welcome to join, participate and grow" (SMITH & MacGREGOR, 1992, p. 9). Collaboration requires willingness to change and to become part of a global world where working and learning are no isolated processes, but the products of shared experiences and combined ideas. This way, the collaborative pedagogy overcomes the traditional one by spreading and practicing the belief that two is always better than one. REFERENCES: 1) SMITH, Barbara L. and MacGREGOR, Jean T. What is Collaborative Learning. 1992. 2) BARTON, Matt and KLINT, Karl. A Student's Guide to Collaborative Writing Technologies in Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Volume 2. Parlor Press: Anderson, 2011. Clara's Essay:
Collaborative Work's Tools Facilities: Asynchrony and Individual's Contributions Tracking
Internet can help students do collaborative work. It is because, nowadays, a lot of tools created to facilitate this kind of activite can be found on the internet, some of them can even be used asynchronously, and there are some others that can track individual's contributions.
First of all, the web is full of free and easy tools that can facilitate the whole writing process. Some social media, like Facebook and Twitter weren't built specifically for collaborative work but they can help students brainstrom, schedule meetings and share archives. But there are tools built specifically for collaborative work, like Google Docs, where students can upload, share, edit and save archives online. These aren't the only tools, on the web there are plenty of them, for example: Zotero, Etherpad, Mindomomo, Wikispace. Without a doubt, at least one of these tools can facilitate any student's collaborative work.
Moreover, some tools also allow students to work collaboratively, but in an asynchronous way, if needed. That means that if one group had problems and there's no date when everyone can meet at the same time, using internet they can work together but not at the same moment. This possibility is really useful, mainly in college's students collaborative work, where lots of students work and have problems to conciliate activities.
At last, some tools allow us track for individual's contributions on a work, avoiding an unfair division of tasks. Divide what each individual of a group have to do in a work is really complicated. people commonly don't do what they are supposed to in college's activites, for this reason, this kind of tool can be used, for an example, in a teacher's evaluation.
All things considered, internet can be really useful in collaborative works, in the whole writing process, because of the large number of tools available, and some even can be used asynchronously or track for individual's contributions.
REFERENCE: BARTON, Matt and KLINT, Karl. A Student's Guide to Collaborative Writing Technologies in Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing.
Collaborate Work and its benefits
Nowadays, with the development of technologies, teachers are using more digital tools, such as web sites, social networks and videos, inside their classes. The use of these tools is often connected to the Collaborative approach. This educational methodology encourages students to help each other, inside and outside the classroom and it has shown itself to be very effective. Although it is not a new method, it started to be discussed in the beggining of the last century, it has been more used during the last years. The aim of this essay is to analyse the advantages of using the C.A in writing classes, such as how the students produce, analyse and correct written work, training heir writing and reading skills.As mentioned before, digital tools are part of the Collaborative Work. As many classes have a short period of duration, working online makes it possible to learn more even when you are at home. Many tools can be used for Collaborative Work, but the one that is being very useful by the teachers nowadays is the Wikispace because it allows the student to share and edit texts online, uploading big files and sending messages to partners, it all in one site. Different from blogs, which does not provide many tools, and are also used to entertainment, it has the focus in the academic process.
It is important to emphasize that in order to have a successful learning, all the students must be part of the project as one. If the student writes just his topic, he won't learn the whole content, neither their colleagues. This problem occurs very often once the students prefer to split the work to make it easier, but they forget about learning and discussing. The teacher must be regularly checking if his students are sharing their own in fomation with themselves.
Reading somebody else's work makes it easier to find mistakes in your own text. Reading also helps building student's vocabulary, improving their writing skills and also allowing them to share their knowledge. Those learning experiences are not possible when the teacher is the center of the class. The collaborative method is based on a different idea, it places the student in the center.
Collaborative Work is very useful in those rushing time that we are living, everyday more tools are being created and improved. For that reason, teachers must open their minds to a new way of teaching, stopping being the center of the class and giving space for their students to not just learn but teach. Using this methodology the teacher will help his students in their writting and reading skills in an easier and more effective way.
REFERENCE:
SMITH, Barbara L. and MacGREGOR, Jean T. What is Collaborative Learning. 1992.
CAROLINA'S ESSAY
Productive Collaborative Work
Many students know too well the difficulties of writing a group paper or essay. Those assignments can be a nightmare, because it is almost impossible to schedule meetings among all the peers and make sure each one does his or her share of the work. Working collaboratively is not an easy task and obtaining good results mostly depends on how people use the available tools, interact with the other members of a group and participate in all parts of the project.
There are many tools that can facilitate the process of working together and people should learn how to deal with them, in order to use them properly according to their needs. Some media tools such as e-mails, social networks and computer platforms are completely free and the choice depends on what people specifically want from the tool. In other words, students should choose the tool that are more appropriate, depending on the results wanted. The group should consider the availability of every member, in person or online, and try to draw a profile of the group and its needs, so they can look for appropriate ways of working together.
A good interaction among the group members is an essential part of the collaborative work. Each member must feel comfortable enough to talk to the others, in order to collaborate, discuss and share all the information and opinions. Unshared information or thought processes can lead the group to wrong decisions. Many minds are better than one, but only if they work towards a common goal. That happens when there is a mutual effort from all the parts, trying to get along well and setting some goals, rules and deadlines, minimizing the waste of time and enhancing efficiency.
Another important aspect of working collaboratively is the participation of the whole group. However, members are not supposed to simply participate, choosing a specific part and contributing somehow. They must participate actively in the whole process, sharing information, discussing ideas, complementing or changing opinions, so that the final project is actual group work and not several individual ones put together. When all the minds are settled on one single goal and start working together, a synergy happens within the group. Such thing does not happen with one person alone. That is why we say that “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts”.
Summing up, group work can be a very difficult task, but there are some ways to increase the productivity and efficiency, minimizing the waste of time. If the members of the group have a good interaction with each other, use the tools that are available in an effective way and participate actively in all parts of the project, the results are bound to be good.
REFERENCES:
BARTON, Matt & KLINT, Karl. A Student’s Guide to Collaborative Writing Technologies. In Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 2.
CALVO, Mario; COTTLE, Jacquline; RANDOLPH-SENG, Brandon; & ZACCHILLI, Tammy. Shared Cognitions and Shared Theories: Telling More Than We Can Know by Ourselves?
Larissa's Essay
The Collaborative approach deals with how students work together toward common goals. This environment where knowledge and tasks are shared can be difficult or complicated,since not all members of the group cooperate. However, it is a good opportunity to improve the quality of the project itself if it is done well. This kind of technique can help students in classrooms to improve their ability of dealing with different situations, such as helping each other in a group, solving problems and using tools on the Internet.
Although dealing with different people and opinions is an everyday activity, it might not be so simple. In order to achieve the best result of working collaboratively, all the members should help each other. First, a leader will be chosen with the objetcive of improving the organization of the project. It does not mean that he/she will be responsible for everything, since each member will have a function in the group. The leader’s responsibility is not only checking if people are executing their tasks successfully, but also working together with all the other members. Everyone in the group discusses and distributes tasks based on each person’s abilities. Second, members participate in an active way sharing opinions and information, exchanging knowledge, argumenting and fulfilling the deadlines.
According to Smith and MacGregor (1992), "Collaborative learning activities immerse students in challenging tasks or questions". Through these activities, students deal first with problems, instead of beginning with facts and ideas; then, they move on to the applications. Therefore, students are more involved with the development of the project, solving the problems that may appear and focusing on improvements. Consequently, they have to be better prepared to organize themselves and think of what is going to happen next.
There are tools available on the Internet that can be really useful to help the process of working together and organizing the project, such as Wikipedia, Google Docs, blogs, Facebook, and e-mails. These tools are facilitators in the process, since they can make group work more productive, alleviate problems with group members who are absent (or who do not participate), and cost nothing to use. It is important to mention that everybody in a group has to determine which technologies will be used to make the project collaboration easier.
The approach of working collaboratively is a technique that can help students work in groups, solve problems and use Internet tools. When dealing with different people, opinions and situations, the learners prepare themselves to work cooperatively and respectfully even beyond classroom limits. Through this educational approach, chances are that good results will frequently be met based on what this essay has presented.
REFERENCE:
1) SMITH, Barbara L. and MacGREGOR, Jean T. What is Collaborative Learning. 1992.
Valentina's Essay:
Technological tools: a students' ally in collaborative work.
Nowadays, it is evident how techonology is present in many aspects of our everyday life, having defenetelly changed the way people used to work, interact, spend their spear time and, especially, study. As a matter of fact, it is in the academic enviroment that technological tools play a key role, not just for teachers, but also for students. In fact, they have the opportunity of organizing better group work, deciding and assigning member's tasks, with the final result of improving collaborative work. The aim of this essay is to present some of the advantages of the use of technologies at school and college, with a special focus on the helpful role that technological tools have in collaborative work for projects. This advantages, which will be deepen along the text, elucidate how technologies can allow a group to work toghether, without the need of organizing face-to-face meetings; how the portability and the free access of tools can facilitate the group work; and, finally, how the access to information is much easier through the use of technologies.At least once in our academic life, everyone has been asked to develop a project through a group work, probably without any enthusiasm. Indeed, it is well known that working in a group is not easy. Especially in the hurried and busy modern life, the hardest thing is to organize face-to-face meetings, which all the members can attend. But how can a group develop a project without meeting and discussing with all the members? How can the project be set up? It is at this point that technologies come into play. With the help of technological tools, in fact, group members can interact with one another at any time of the day, in any place of the earth. Through e-mails, social networks (such as the famous Facebook or Twitter), or, in the best of the cases, through internet conferences (for instance with Skype), students can manage their work, assign tasks and improve collaborative work. In this way, they have the chance to work on their project in the most suitable place (for exemple at home, instead of at school) and moment (such as during the night, instead of the day). In other words, students can optimize their time and respct deadlines, having a greater opportunity to achieve an optimal result.
Got to this point, i.e. had understood how to work in group without organizing face-to-face meetings, we need to know where these useful tools can be found. Here comes the Internet. As we all know, this invisible "web" is the Pandora`s box where we can find literally everything, including all the indispensable tools we need to develop our group project. Most of the tools can be directly used while surfing the internet, or , when this is not possible, can be dowloaded, completely free of charge. Because of this "democratic" aspect, i.e. their accessibility, everyone can benefit from these technologies to work collaboratively. In this way, each phase of the work can be organized (from the on-line meetings untill the final presentation), without wasting a cent. However, has to be kept in mind that, despite the current great diffusion of tecnhologies, not anyone has a computer or an internet connection at home. Fortunately, at the present time, the majority of schools or libraries has computers available for students` use. For those who has a notebook, instead, the access to technologies is even more easy. In fact, a great number of cities already has free wireless hot spots in the main public places (such as squares or parks), and those cities that still does not have any, are planning to fill this gap.
So far, we have seen how to work collaboratively through the organization of on-line meetings and the use of free tecnhological tools found on the web. Nevertheless, has to be mentioned another important "democratic" aspect of tecnhologies. Matt Barton and Karl Klint, in their article on the use of technological tools in collaborative work, define this feature as "social nature" of tools. In fact, through these tecnhologies found on the internet, students can share their knowledges, research and projects, both with other students or also experts. In this way, a greater number of sources is available on the web (that can be on sites, on-line jurnals or blogs), in addition to the already existing printed ones. Last but not least, another practical advantage has to be reminded. Through the use if tecnhological tools, in fact, students do not need to literally "walk" in search of a source (as in libraries or shops), but just sit down in front of the computer and digit. Nor they have to "talk" to their sources by intrviewing them, but again, sit down in front of a computer and send them an e-mail. As in all the other phases that bring to the final version of the project, therefore, students can optimize their time, also when it comes to research for sources.
In conclusion, it results evident how technological tools are an important and fundamental ally in student's group work. Because of their help, in fact, students can take full advantage of their abilities, both individually and collaboratively, having at their disposal a greater number of sources of information, organization and presentation for their project. Improving their work and developing it in a short amount of time, students will be able to reach an excellent final result, being aware of the fact that technological tools can be a useful support not just in academic enviroments, but also in many other aspects of everyday life.
REFERENCES:
BARTON M., KLINT K.., "A Student’s Guide to Collaborative Writing Technologies", in "Writing Spaces. Readings on writing" Vol 2, p. 320, 2011.
ATKINS A.T., "Collaborating Online: Digital Strategies for Group Work", in "Writing spaces. Readings on writing" Vol. 1, p. 235, 2010.
Bárbara's Essay
Nowadays, wok in group in schools is a very difficult task, but collaborative work is a more effective way of teaching than the traditional methods, because the students are more motivated.
In collaborative working the educational hierarchy will vary, the central idea is that the professor will just direct the students, giving them the possibility of being challenge, which means, putting them in a situation that students will not just be the observers, as a result the students will become practitioners having more possibilities of resolving the problems.
When a group has the same thought the work becomes easier, of course this does not happens all the time, however this will improve abilities to deal with different points of views. Although the most difficult task is accept the others opinion, this issue can be solved with a discussion, putting the ideas together and finding a similarity between them. With this method the students develop mutual trust.
This work does not have to be just in the classroom, with some tools, for instance the internet, collaborative work can be easier including the use of blogs, chats, facebook, e-mails, all them can be used as an instrument by the professor, and the student be more interesting in a class that you don’t need to be there for learn, is something new and is this kind of activity that call attention.
In summary, collaborative work is a new way to make the students to listen different ideas, to create something new, to develop their intellectual and enhance professional development. And we must believe that collaborative working will be a changing in the traditional methods of teaching.
Isabella's Essay
Shared Cognitions within Collaborative Work
The essay's goal is to undestand in which ways shared cognitions might take part and perhaps influence the development of collaborative work and how technology plays an important part when it comes to both processes.
FALE/UFMG
March/2012
Shared Cognitions within Collaborative Work
For some time the use of technology has been one of the main topics of discussion within the academic environment. Adapting teaching and learning skills to the new technological means has been a challenge to both teachers and students. The proposal of this essay is exactly to discuss how the academic sphere can use the new technologies as tools in order to develop not only colaborative work, but also shared cognitions. The shared cognitions play an important role when it comes to the process of collaborative work. Those cognitions might be, in fact, a guide when it comes to working in groups, specially when using tools instead of face to face meetings.
The idea of shared cognitions comes from the cognitive process elaborated within a set of people. Shared cognition refers to conscious cognitive functioning shared by a group, but it is in fact strongly dependent on individual cognitions. According to the authors of Shared Cognitions and Shared Theories, sharing information during deliberation processes may have implications when it comes to decision making and the majority taking part in the process, which means that individual thoughts and opinions can influence the general opinion when it comes to deciding something. In that sense, each person's background will be, if not taken into account, at least be present during the deliberation.
Although deliberation can be an individual process, in our democratic society what so ever is developed in groups, decision making often regards a group of individuals. This process, that once took part only in the political sphere, is now part of our daily lives. From the early start, children are encouraged to share their thoughts among their classmates in order to learn not only to respect the differences, but also to improve their cognitive skills. Being able to work in groups and sharing thoughts helps youngsters to interact better in society.
Seeing that working in groups can be helpfull within the decision making process, learning skills and social interaction, schools have for some time encouraged collaborative work among their students, as sharing their thoughts make them work better. However in order to improve and make collaborative work easier, some adaptation was required in the academic spheres, that is collaborative work now goes beyond making groups in classrooms it also continues at students homes. That is only possible through all the technology developed in the last few years. Tools such as wikispaces, facebook, googledocs, forums, peer teaching, online chats, create an environment where students can interact and see each others work.
In that sence, Students use technology as a tool or a support for communicating with others, they are in an active role rather than the passive role of recipient of information transmitted by a teacher, textbook, or broadcast. Therefore the student is actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Technology use allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons. Moreover, when technology is used as a tool to support students in performing authentic tasks, the students are in the position of defining their goals and evaluating their progress.
If the students position changes when using technology, the teacher does not stay behind, the teacher's role changes as well. The teacher is no longer the center of attention as the dispenser of information, but rather plays the role of facilitator, setting project goals and providing guidelines and resources, moving from student to student or group to group, providing suggestions and support for student activity.
The internet and online spaces are used not only as an information tool, but as a meeting area for studies and for peer learning. They are no longer seen as a distraction or disturbance in the learning process, but as a possibility for students to exchange knowledge, students are roused to learn to revise each others work, to learn from others mistakes and to accept critiques towards their work and to discuss topics and add what was shared to their life encyclopedia.
Everything presented so far shows that shared cognitions are always present in collaborative work and learning skills and that technology can be used in favor of the learning process.These new technological tools are making the process of learning continuous to students. In this way collaborative learning both facilitates and enriches the evaluation (done by teachers) and the learning processes (of the students).
Marcela's essay:
Collaborative Learning: Education beyond the Classrooms
Living in a world where globalization is no longer a new word, but a routine, it is vital to relate, communicate and work with different people at any time, anywhere. This necessity has changed the objective of educational institutions, which aim at filling society and market with professionals capable of handling different situations. Since these new professionals must work cooperatively, collaborative learning becomes essential, for it provides students with activeness, cooperation and participation, skills hardly acquired through traditional approaches.
Collaborative learning is active and it considers the acquisition of knowledge a shared process. This way, students are to "work together to maximize their own and each other's learning" (SMITH & MacGREGOR, 1992, p. 3), for "The development of interpersonal skills is as important as the learning itself" (SMITH & MacGREGOR, 1992, p. 3). Therefore, instead of sticking to the traditional method of listening to lectures and taking notes, learners practice, research, and build contents themselves while becoming a straight-forward professional and citizen.
Besides being used to cooperation and teamwork, according to Barton and Klint (2011), collaborative students acquire the much desirable sense of social and intellectual involvement, civic responsibility and management of technologies. This last one comes from the large array of tools available for online, shared and asynchronous work, of which Barron and Klint (2011) present valuable examples and explanations, such as: Google Docs, Facebook, Google Reader, Zotero, and others are useful in all the steps of the writing process, for instance.
Nevertheless, the use of technological environments is a problem for many. This is because the challenges and difficulties of the collaborative approach are related to the stiffness of the old-fashioned educational system, which no longer meets the necessities of today's world. Still, some institutions and educators confront the cooperative methodology because they do not believe it to be actual teaching process. However, although there are other problems such as "the tension between the process of student learning and content coverage" (SMITH & MacGREGOR, 1992, p. 8), the outcome of a collaborative approach seems to be "a community of learners in which everybody is welcome to join, participate and grow" (SMITH & MacGREGOR, 1992, p. 9).
Collaboration requires willingness to change and to become part of a global world where working and learning are no isolated processes, but the products of shared experiences and combined ideas. This way, the collaborative pedagogy overcomes the traditional one by spreading and practicing the belief that two is always better than one.
REFERENCES:
1) SMITH, Barbara L. and MacGREGOR, Jean T. What is Collaborative Learning. 1992.
2) BARTON, Matt and KLINT, Karl. A Student's Guide to Collaborative Writing Technologies in Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Volume 2. Parlor Press: Anderson, 2011.
Clara's Essay:
Collaborative Work's Tools Facilities: Asynchrony and Individual's Contributions Tracking
Internet can help students do collaborative work. It is because, nowadays, a lot of tools created to facilitate this kind of activite can be found on the internet, some of them can even be used asynchronously, and there are some others that can track individual's contributions.
First of all, the web is full of free and easy tools that can facilitate the whole writing process. Some social media, like Facebook and Twitter weren't built specifically for collaborative work but they can help students brainstrom, schedule meetings and share archives. But there are tools built specifically for collaborative work, like Google Docs, where students can upload, share, edit and save archives online. These aren't the only tools, on the web there are plenty of them, for example: Zotero, Etherpad, Mindomomo, Wikispace. Without a doubt, at least one of these tools can facilitate any student's collaborative work.
Moreover, some tools also allow students to work collaboratively, but in an asynchronous way, if needed. That means that if one group had problems and there's no date when everyone can meet at the same time, using internet they can work together but not at the same moment. This possibility is really useful, mainly in college's students collaborative work, where lots of students work and have problems to conciliate activities.
At last, some tools allow us track for individual's contributions on a work, avoiding an unfair division of tasks. Divide what each individual of a group have to do in a work is really complicated. people commonly don't do what they are supposed to in college's activites, for this reason, this kind of tool can be used, for an example, in a teacher's evaluation.
All things considered, internet can be really useful in collaborative works, in the whole writing process, because of the large number of tools available, and some even can be used asynchronously or track for individual's contributions.
REFERENCE:
BARTON, Matt and KLINT, Karl. A Student's Guide to Collaborative Writing Technologies in Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing.